


Childhood Friend Romance

by chivalrousAmour



Series: kuzumiki fics i guess [3]
Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, F/M, Talentswap, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 05:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9420431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chivalrousAmour/pseuds/chivalrousAmour
Summary: Y'know, usually arranged marriages are arranged by the parents, not the couple.(In which Fuyuhiko makes a young Mikan cry... three times, Chiaki is the SHSL Prankster, trees are climbed, children are kidnapped, gifts are given, and there is no such thing as a normal marriage.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of knittybitty's amazing arranged marriage Kuzumiki AU! You can find it here! http://knittybitty.tumblr.com/post/155021502640/its-been-a-while-since-ive-done-any-posting-on

The first time he met her, he made her cry. Twice.

Look, Fuyuhiko had always been blunt, alright? Even when he was six. He also had a short attention span. So, when his parents were talking to some of their friends about something no six-year-old would ever care about, he wandered off to the yard. Fuyuhiko was sure that he would be able to make a leaf pile or two before anyone noticed that he was gone.

The backyard was one of his favourite places to be as a kid. Everyday, there would be some new hole in the ground or some new crack in the wall to find. He couldn't memorize blades of grass or falling leaves the same way he could with words or pictures. Exploring the yard to find somethng new was one of his favourite pastimes.

But for once, the ' _something new_ ' isn't a foreign plant or another crack in the wall. No, that time, Fuyuhiko found a girl in his yard.

She wasn't that much older than him, but she was bigger. Yup, she was an entire head taller, and since he was a normal height for a six-year-old, she was obviously just really tall. Long dark hair fell over her eyes, and Fuyuhiko wondered why she didn't just tie it up. How could she see like that?

Fuyuhiko was a curious kid, so he walked right up to the new girl. He didn't really notice how she ' _eep_ 'ed and tensed, or how her eyes widened in fear when he approached her. He just did the exact same thing he did when he encountered unfamiliar sticks or plants: a tentative touch, just to make sure it didn't bite.

Huh. She felt cold, like she had been outside for a while.

That idea seemed kinda weird to Fuyuhiko. He liked being in the yard, but never long enough to feel cold and shiver-y. Usually, he would be called back inside long before that could happen.

Did she not have someone to call her inside?

Fuyuhiko examined her carefully, squinting as he looked her up and down. Now that he was looking closely... how could he be sure that she wasn't some sort of huge doll or something? She didn't seem to feel cold, or need to see, and dolls didn't need to be called inside...

"Hey, are you really a human?" Fuyuhiko asked loudly.

"A-ah...!" The girl flinched, and he realized that she was alive. He could see bits of her eye from behind her curtain of messy hair, and...

...she was crying?

Fuyuhiko didn't get to ask more questions, because right then, she turned around and ran for the door. He followed after her in a slower pace, shutting the door behind him.

He found her tugging at the hand of his mom's friend, tearfully begging the adult to let her go home. Huh. She _did_ have someone to call her inside.

Before Fuyuhiko could approach her and ask another question, his dad guided him away.

His dad tried to explain in a hushed tone. The girl was from the Tsumiki family, and she was visiting with her parents. Fuyuhiko had to be nice to her, and he had to talk to her. No avoiding her or fighting her. No, she wasn't a doll. No, she wasn't an alien either. She was a human being. Go play with her, Fuyuhiko.

By the time his dad finished, the Tsumiki girl had stopped asking the adult if she could go home. Instead, she was sitting at the dining table, looking sad and uncomfortable.

"Hey," Fuyuhiko said as he sat next to her.

Tsumiki ' _eep_ 'ed, looking at him with wide, tearful eyes. He didn't even do anything!

"A-are you going t-t-to make f-fun of me?" Tsumiki asked fearfully, water running down her cheeks once again. "K-kick me and pull m-my hair like the kids a-a-at school?"

"Why would I do that?" Fuyuhiko gave her a weird look. "My dad said I had to be nice, so I have to be nice, or else my mom's gonna beat me up."

Tsumiki nodded in understanding, and they settled into a bit of silence. Silence didn't seem nice, so Fuyuhiko spoke up again.

"The kids at your school sound stupid. And mean. Why don't you just kick them?"

"Wouldn't that just make it worse? They'll try to hit me harder in return for hitting them..." Tsumiki sniffled, her frown deepening at the thought.

"Just tell them that you're part of the Yakuza," Fuyuhiko offered. "They'll be too scared to go after you. Trust me, it worked for me."

"I don't _want_ people to be scared of me!" Tsumiki screamed. Fuyuhiko's eyes widened, shocked that she was capable of raising her voice. "I just want 'em to stop being so mean to me!"

Fuyuhiko tried to think of a solution, before coming up with,

"I'll beat them up for you then."

"Huh?" She stared at him in confusion, prompting Fuyuhiko to add,

"I mean, if I beat them up, then they won't bully you, because they're scared of _me._ But they won't be scared of you, so... problem solved, I guess?"

The girl paused to consider it, before giving Fuyuhiko a big smile.

"That's perfect!" She exclaimed. "You're a genius!"

Fuyuhiko grinned in return, before they began discussing their plan. He would break into her classroom at lunch, when there was no one else around. She would give him the names of everyone who hurt her, and then...

...then his parents walked in, and said he wasn't allowed to beat anyone up. And then Tsumiki's parents walked in and told her in was time to go.

Tsumiki looked disappointed, but she still waved goodbye to him.

* * *

A week later, he almost forgot the girl with long dark hair and cold skin. She was on the verge of disappearing from his memory, until he overheard a late-night conversation between his parents.

His mom would bring up something about an ' _alliance_ ', his dad would shoot it down with something about a ' _protest_ '. Both of them said ' _marriage_ ' and ' _Fuyuhiko_ ' a lot. His dad mentioned a ' _Tsumiki_ ', and Fuyuhiko made the connection.

He knew what marriage was. Marriage was when you liked someone a whole lot, and then you had a big party. Did that mean that he had to start liking Tsumiki?

Fuyuhiko _guessed_ that he already liked her. A little bit though. He didn't really feel like marriage-levels of like yet.

He went back to sleep, the rest of the conversation too complicated and adult-like for him to be interested.

The next morning, his parents didn't bring it up, and he didn't ask.

* * *

Tsumiki began visiting a lot more after that. She got dragged into Natsumi's advetnures and insisted that dogs were better than cats, a notion that Peko found ridiculous and fought at every opportunity. Whenever Fuyuhiko walked past the adults, they would always be arguing and fighting, but he couldn't care less about that when Tsumiki was there.

Because Tsumiki was the only one who actually cared about storybooks and fantastic monsters.

Natsumi thought they were boring, Peko flat-out told him that she didn't get it and made him explain and explain and explain, which sucked all the magic and fun out of coloured pages and pretty words. His parents nodded along in that adult way of saying ' _I'm too old for this, but I'm pretending to like it so you can go away.'_

Tsumiki actually _liked_ stories of horrific monsters tearing people to shreds, before getting defeated by the brave hero. She would smile at ' _happily-ever-after_ 's and cry at ' _and they never saw each other again_ '. They would read together under the huge tree in the yard, until they ran out of storybooks and started making their own. Fuyuhiko would make his best scary monster face, and Tsumiki would gasp in shock before switching to the role of the hero who stabbed him with a sword-stick. Softly, of course. She didn't want to hurt him.

Their stories didn't make sense to observers, but to them, it was as simple as 1-2-3. The princess would get her good ending, the monsters would be defeated, and they would say ' _the end'_ , right before jumping into another story.

Days became weeks, weeks became months, and soon, Tsumiki was as much a part of his life as his sisters and his parents. A day without her showing up was be the exception instead of the norm. Whenever that happened, Fuyuhiko would impatiently wait for the day to end, so he could play with her the next day.

But, when he was told that she couldn't come to his seventh birthday... well, obviously that was a problem.

Fuyuhiko and Natsumi's birthdays were usually awkward affairs. Family members he never saw otherwise would show up and talk to him, asking about school and dreams and cooing over him in ways that made him want to punch someone. Playing with Tsumiki was _obviously_ preferable.

Which is why he threw a tantrum when his dad said his new friend wasn't coming. He huffed and glared and hissed, but his dad kept saying that there was nothing he could do.

"She's very sick, you see, can't get out of her bed-" His dad tried to speak, before mom came and punched him in the shoulder. He rubbed at the site of the future bruise as she spoke.

"Don't lie to the damn kid, you fucking moron," Fuyuhiko's mom snapped, before kneeling down to look Fuyuhiko in the eyes. "You know how we don't let you eat all the candy in one go?"

"Yeah," Fuyuhiko said, not seeing what that had to do with Tsumiki.

"And no matter how much you want to, we won't let you do it, and there's nothing you can do about it because we're your parents," His mom concluded, before smiling a bit at him. "It's the same for Tsumiki too. She wanted to go, but her parents didn't let her."

"How come?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Her parents don't like you," She said bluntly, and his dad gasped in shock. "Actually, her parents don't like any of us. They used to, but they don't anymore."

"Did we do something wrong?"

His dad thought for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain it.

"They don't think they get anything good out of letting you two be friends," His dad stated, before shaking his head. "They... they think that the territories and the- uh, this really isn't a-"

"They just don't like you," Mom cut in. "There's no reason behind it, they just don't like you."

"Rasu, you can't just say stuff like that!" His dad protested.

"It's the truth," His mom retorted, and Fuyuhiko sensed an argument coming.

He left before either of them could notice, wondering if he could convince Peko to help him get out of the party.

( _Fuyuhiko didn't succeed in escaping, but at the party, he found a box wrapped in orange paper. His name was scrawled on it in messy ink. Inside was a windup race car, along with a note from Tsumiki. She assembled it for him, making sure to paint it the same colour as the cars the heroes would drive in the movies he liked.)_

( _Even though the paint job was sloppy and the third wheel had a dried paint bump he never managed to remove, it was one of his favourite toys_.)

* * *

Fuyuhiko was seven years and four days old when he first swore.

It wasn't his fault, okay?! Natsumi had found his race car and held it hostage, forcing him to chase her down to get it back! He tackled her to the floor, wrestling the toy out of her hands.

But then the wheels fell out and then a gear and then a pin... no matter what he did, he couldn't stick them back in.

Fuyuhiko struggled with the pieces for a few seconds, before spitting an insult at Natsumi and running off to figure it out on his own. He gathered up all the pieces and scampered over to the tree, trying to put them all together again.

He couldn't figure out how the gear went in or what the pin actually did. The wheels didn't stay in no matter how hard he pushed them. The thing seemed determined to stay broken, and Fuyuhiko was honestly about to crush it with a hammer if the gear fell out again...

Just as he thought that, the gear popped out again.

"Oh, goddammit!" Fuyuhiko hissed, glaring at the car. "Just fucking fit together already!"

A soft gasp from behind him made him turn towards the sound, and he froze at the sight of Tsumiki standing there.

He tried to explain that he was trying to fix it, that Natsumi was the one who broke it, all sorts of things, before Tsumiki spoke up.

"You swore!" Tsumiki gasped scandalously, covering her gaping mouth with one hand.

"You seriously care more about that than the car?!" Fuyuhiko demanded incredulously.

"Huh?" Tsumiki startled, then she finally noticed the broken car. "Oh."

Fuyuhiko watched as Tsumiki sat down on the ground next to him, picking up the parts. She carefully considered them for a moment, before sticking the pin through the hole in the gear's center. Oh.

Somehow, the puzzle that Fuyuhiko had been frustrated over for the past hour and a half was rapidly solved by Tsumiki's quick thinking. Fuyuhiko watched her turn gears and screw in pins in awe. When she triumphantly snapped the wheels back in place, Fuyuhiko's eyes were full of what coulf only be called reverence.

"That was amazing!" Fuyuhiko gaped, and Tsumiki's face turned a nice shade of pink. "How did you _do_ that?!"

"W-well, I messed around with radios and stuff at home all the time," Tsumiki offered with a bashful grin. "It's o-only natural that I would get good at it, right? I'm sure you would be able to do it with practice."

That last sentence flew right over Fuyuhiko's head, stars in his eyes as he exclaimed, "You can be like-like _Iron Man_! The cool hero with an awesome robot suit!"

"You really think so?" Tsumiki asked tentatively, and Fuyuhiko nodded.

Fuyuhiko began rambling excitedly about how cool she was, and Tsumiki smiled.

* * *

Tsumiki pretty much showered him with gifts after that.

"I tried to fix the radio, but it ended up being so loud that my parents didn't want it anymore..." Tsumiki would mumble as she passed him the object in question. "You might like it though, if you like small things like-"

"There were some leftover parts from when I fixed the radio, so I made this," Tsumiki would say as she handed him a tiny robotic dog. "You can have it, but it's not anything special-"

"Your sister said you've been oversleeping, so..." Tsumiki would shrug as she gave him a manual alarm clock, before pointedly looking away from his face. "I just messed around with it when I was bored. I figured that you might need it more than I do, but it's not all that much-"

"Your dad wouldn't let me make your car fly, so I settled for the next best thing," Tsumiki would huff as she handed him a toy car and a remote. "It's not really impressive, but-"

Every single time, Fuyuhiko would cut her off with a, " _Are you kidding me?! That's fucking awesome!_ " or a, " _Holy shit, that's so cool! Are you really giving me something this great?!"_ or a, " _You're really cool, Tsumiki!"_. Tsumiki would cross her arms over her chest and let out a _'hmph'_ or downplay her accomplishments, but Fuyuhiko wouldn't accept it.

Tsumiki was really impressive, but she didn't see it at all! And even when he told her, she didn't accept the truth! Fuyuhiko really, really wanted to help her see how cool she was!

So he started slipping compliments into conversations like pulling needles through fabric. A _'You look nice today'_ after a hello. A _'you're really awesome, you know?'_ when Tsumiki mentioned one of her accomplishments. A _'you must be patient as hell to not castrate that bastard'_ when Tsumiki said a guy shoved her in the hallway (and a mental note to find that asshole and kick him.)

Tsumiki blushed and stammered and flustered every single time. And every single time Fuyuhiko saw her reaction, his determination to help her feel good about herself only rose. He practically made it his goal to get her used to compliments by the end of the year.

Fuyuhiko had doomed himself to failure, but he didn't know that yet.

* * *

Fuyuhiko was ten years old when he learned what it meant to be a Yakuza. He learned that he wasn't a hero from the movies or a knight from the books.

At his birthday party, he spotted one of his uncles, one he actually liked. Whenever Fuyuhiko talked to him, his uncle would talk about his weapon collection and explain how they could blow stuff up. Fuyuhiko ran towards him, his arms open for a hug-

His uncle scooped him up on his shoulder with a laugh, and asked if Fuyuhiko wanted to see his birthday gift. And Fuyuhiko nodded, because it was obviously going to be something awesome like a toy grenade launcher, right?

The older man carried him away, out of the house. Into the backseat of a car. Fuyuhiko peeked out the window, spotting Peko running after them with her sword drawn. She looked angry.

"Hey, uncle, can Peko join us?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Of course she can," His uncle said, stepping out of the driver door to talk to her. He locked the doors.

Fuyuhiko watched the encounter, expecting his uncle to explain calmly. His uncle would just smile and ask Peko to calm down and-

His uncle knocked Peko to the ground, stealing away her sword. She tried to kick him away, but his uncle punched her again, her glasses falling off her face. Fuyuhiko's eyes widened as his uncle threw the sword away, before grabbing Peko by the collar, dragging her towards the car. His uncle opened the door and tossed her inside, before sitting in the driver's seat and driving off.

It wasn't right, it wasn't real, no, Peko-!

The car kept going until the sky was dark, and his uncle went off to visit a hotel for the night. He left Peko and Fuyuhiko in the car, even though it was so, _so_ cold. His uncle said it was ' _punishment_ ' for Peko's resistance.

It took long, agonizing hours for the two to break a hole in the window, and they climbed out. Fuyuhiko scratched his arms on the sharp edges, but he didn't cry out. They had to run before he came back.

Fuyuhiko thought they might have been on a mountain. There was snow on the ground, and the air was so cold that Fuyuhiko thought they would freeze to death. Peko held his hand as they ran, but...

"Do you... do you think we'll make it back?" Fuyuhiko asked fearfully.

"O-of course!" Peko exclaimed. "Don't worry, I-I-I'm sure we'll be able to survive-!"

Her voice was frantic and desperate. She was just as scared as he was.

Fuyuhiko realized, in that moment, what it meant to be a Yakuza.

Betrayal from people you thought loved you.

Fuyuhiko began sobbing, trying to wipe his face with the back of his hand. He only ended up staining his face with blood.

* * *

Fuyuhiko would be lying if he said he wasn't affected by what happened.

He was cautious around adults, even his parents. The excitement and brightness in his eyes seemed to be gone. His voice was quiet when he spoke, and he didn't speak much. Adventures in the yard didn't seem all that appealing anymore. The yard just didn't seem as beautiful as it was when he saw it with innocent eyes.

Fuyuhiko sat in silence with Tsumiki, watching the clouds go by. Tsumiki held his hand in hers, squeezing it occasionally to make sure he was still awake.

It was nice, to just exist like that. Tsumiki didn't look at him in pity or constantly ask if he was okay. She just asked him what he wanted to do, and nodded when he asked if he could hold her hand.

"Kuzuryuu-san?" Tsumiki turned towards him, and he stared at her in return. "Do you want me to kick him?"

"What?"

"I-I mean, the jerk who took you!" Tsumiki exclaimed hurriedly. "Do you want me to kick him?!"

"He wasn't a jerk!" Fuyuhiko snapped, glaring at her. "He was my uncle!" Fuyuhiko hesitated, his voice dying down to a mumble, "I mean, I know he did bad stuff and all, but... I still liked him."

"Kuzuryuu-san..." Tsumiki frowned. "I'm sorry."

"I don't see what you have to do with it," Fuyuhiko grumbled, before his eyes drifted off to memories of stinging cuts and freezing cold.

They setted into a small silence, before Fuyuhiko broke it with a soft voice.

"Hey, Tsumiki... you wouldn't do anything like that, right? I can trust you... right?"

"I won't ever hurt you!" Tsumiki promised. "I swear, I'll do my best to protect you, Kuzuryuu-san!"

"Hey, don't you have to protect yourself first?" Fuyuhiko shot back, and Tsumiki flinched. "I'm not a dumbass. I know you're still being pushed around at school."

"Yeah, but..." Tsumiki trailed off, muttering her next words. "It's still better than being ignored..."

"Like hell it is!" Fuyuhiko declared. "I'm seriously going to beat the crap put of those bastards if they don't leave you alone!"

"But I don't wanna be alone!" Tsumiki wailed.

"You're not going to be!" Fuyuhiko huffed. "You've got me, after all!" He grinned at her, and Tsumiki...

...began crying?!

"Uwaaaaaaaaah! Kuzuryuu-san, you're still here! You're still okay and not saaaaaaaad!" Tsumiki sobbed.

"Why is that a bad thing?!" Fuyuhiko demanded in shock.

"It's not! It-it's j-just...! I'm so relieved you're okaaaaaaaaaaay!" Tsumiki threw herself at him, leaning over to cry into his shoulder. Fuyuhiko rubbed at her back, rolling his eyes.

"Really Tsumiki... you big crybaby," Fuyuhiko smiled to himself, his voice weirdly fond and warm as Tsumiki cried.

* * *

Fuyuhiko really thought that they were getting back to normal after that. Peko was slowly dropping her habit of glaring at every adult she saw, and he was getting better at holding longer conversations. He actually, genuinely thought that things were slowly getting better.

But then a girl with short brown hair started showing up at his house.

He didn't like that girl. She never talked, just staring at people with blank pink eyes. It was unnerving to feel her stare, and Fuyuhiko knew that she was probably capable of murder. Only someone who could kill would be so comfortable in the house of the largest Yakuza family in Japan. (Aside from Tsumiki of course).

But the number one reason he hated seeing her?

Every time she showed up, Tsumiki had to go.

Before, Tsumiki appeared the moment her school hours ended and left when the sun started setting. When the pink-eyed girl started showing up, Tsumiki had to leave when the sun was still high in the sky.

"Who is she?" Fuyuhiko asked one day, his face scrunched up into a grumpy glare. Tsumiki stared at him in confusion before he added, "The girl with pink eyes. The one who makes you go home. Who is she?"

"My parents thought I needed a bodyguard after what happened to you," Tsumiki answered. "They don't want it to happen to me, so... they hired her."

"That's a stupid idea," Fuyuhiko declared, earning a ' _Wait, huh-?!_ ' from Tsumiki. He crossed his arms over his chest as he went on, talking like he was explaining the most obvious thing in the world. "They should just let you stay here, forever. We can protect you just fine."

"I-I can't do that!" Tsumiki stammered. "As much as I want t-to, I can't stay here forever!"

"Why not?" Fuyuhiko asked in a totally not-whiny way.

"I'm supposed to get married to someone pres-prezti-priss-" Tsumiki struggled with the word for a bit, before giving up with a huff. "I'm supposed to marry someone rich and powerful. And then I would have to live with that person, so... I can't stay here."

"I'm rich and powerful, aren't I?" Fuyuhiko asked. Wasn't he supposed to be the one marrying Tsumiki? "I'm the heir to the biggest damn Yakuza family in Japan! You can't get more powerful than that!"

"Um, that's true..." Tsumiki nodded, and Fuyuhiko beamed with pride, at least until she added, "But my parents don't like you. They think you're a bad influence."

"Why the hell would they think that?!"

"Uh..."

Tsumiki was saved from answering by Fuyuhiko spotting a (sadly) familiar face behind her. He groaned when the pink-eyed girl grabbed Tsumiki's arm, beginning to forcefully drag her away.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Tsumiki yelped, waving goodbye to Fuyuhiko.

He was _not_ pouting as he waved back. Shut up.

* * *

By the time he was twelve, Nanami had become a long-accepted, but still unwelcome inconvenience. Sometimes, Fuyuhiko went an entire week without seeing Tsumiki. And he hated it. Natsumi eventually started accepting bribes in exchange for stalling Nanami for a while. Fuyuhiko usually went to Peko if he wanted more time though, mostly because Peko didn't charge anything for her services. Plus, Peko actually _liked_ talking to Nanami for some weird reason. Really, it was more of an attempt to help Peko get a friend than a stalling tactic.

But maybe he shouldn't have tried so hard to get them to be friends.

Because, apparently, when Nanami wanted to avoid someone, she hid behind closed doors. She even went to the trouble of going inside closets, on the off chance that someone was looking for her.

Fuyuhiko's eyes widened with horror when he found Nanami curled up in his closet, running her fingers over a sloppily-painted toy race car.

"Don't fucking touch that!" Fuyuhiko screamed, snatching the gift out of her hands. He checked for any scratches, sighing in relief when he found none.

"So you're a sentimental hoarder..." Nanami whispered, bringing out the various other objects she had found. A radio modified to play a bit louder than normal, a miniature robotic dog, an alarm clock that yelled out encouraging phrases, a remote control car, and various other gifts...

Fuyuhiko froze, watching helplessly as Nanami considered each one. She could smash them all in a second. and there would be nothing he could do about it.

But she didn't. Nanami just took one long look at all of them together, then stared at him with blank eyes.

"Isn't it weird how all of these are from one person?" Nanami asked as she carefully set them down. She stood, stepping past Fuyuhiko while he gaped at her in confusion.

"Oh well," Nanami shrugged, making her way towards the door. "It doesn't really matter, since the ending's not changing no matter what you do."

"What the hell does that mean?!" Fuyuhiko demanded, but it was too late. She was gone, and Fuyuhiko suddenly had the urge to punch something.

But instead, he gathered up all the gifts, checking them all for dents or scratches. When he was satisfied with their condition, he began to put them all back in their place, tucked away in the corner of his closet.

He didn't want Nanami or anyone else getting into that closet. Not when Fuyuhiko kept a bunch of precious stuff in there.

...it wasn't weird how he considered Tsumiki's gifts precious. They were gifts from a friend. Of course he would treasure them.

Shut up, Nanami.

* * *

"Do you think we'll go to the same high school?" Fuyuhiko asked, lazily watching the clouds go by. His eyes drifted over to Tsumiki, sitting with her back hunched over and her hair tied up with a cute ribbon.

"Probably not," Tsumiki answered, her focus on the bits of scrap metal she manipulated with pliers and tweezers. It was a project of hers, apparently. She liked working on it while she talked, but she didn't want to tell Fuyuhiko what it was.

A pause bubbled up in the time it took for Tsumiki to twist a strip of aluminum into the right shape, then popped when she spoke up again.

"I mean, you're obviously going to be invited to Hope's Peak," Tsumiki stated. "I looked it up. It turns out being a Yakuza is a talent."

"Cool," Fuyuhiko said, before realizing something. "Wait. Mechanic's a talent too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then wouldn't that be you?" Fuyuhiko asked, and Tsumiki looked up just to give him a hesitant stare.

"No, I'm not _that_ good," Tsumiki said as she kept going, not even looking at her work. "I just do it as a hobby. There's nothing really talent-worthy about it."

"You made a remote control car," Fuyuhiko retorted. Tsumiki was about to protest, but he cut her off preemptively, saying, "I know you didn't buy it! There's no way your parents would spend money on me when they think I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to you!"

"B-but, they bought it for me! I just reverse-engineered it!" Tsumiki protested, squeezing her eyes shut as she pouted. "I didn't come up with the idea on my own or anything!"

"Robot dog," Fuyuhiko said flatly.

"I stole the idea from a game!" Tsumiki yelped.

"Did the game come with blueprints or something?!"

"Er, n-no, but-!"

Fuyuhiko groaned, slapping his hand against his forehead.

"You are literally making stuff with your eyes closed _right now."_

"That's... uh..."

"Tsumiki, you are fucking amazing," Fuyuhiko declared, almost challenging her to go against him on that count.

She just let out a whine instead, her cheeks turning red.

"Why can I never win against you...?"

"Start by being right about how cool you are first."

"Boiling."

"Wha- No! That's not what I meant!" Fuyuhiko snapped, and Tsumiki grinned. He rolled his eyes. "Stop being a smartass, Tsumiki."

"I thought you liked my butt," Tsumiki joked.

Fuyuhiko's face immediately turned red, and he automatically told her to shut up, because he only said that since the other two options were his sisters, idiot.

"Well, I don't think Nanami-san's letting you forget that," Tsumiki said, making Fuyuhiko groan.

"Don't remind me of that bitch," Fuyuhiko huffed, before he realized something. "It's kind of weird, actually."

"Huh?"

"We've known each other for years, but we still use family names," Fuyuhiko observed. "I've never actually called you Mikan before."

"H-h-h-h-h-h-hwaaaaaaa _aaaaaah_?!" Mikan shrieked, her face red. "Y-y-y-you, uh, I-! Um-!"

"Are you okay?" Fuyuhiko asked, raising an eyebrow at her reaction.

"I-it's just, um, I-I'm so used to-to you using my family n-name, and, er, it's just a-a shock!" Mikan stammered in a panic. "Ah, I feel like m-my heart's gonna burst! This is too much!"

"That's a bit drastic, don't you think, _Mikan_?" Fuyuhiko grinned.

"E-e-eep!" Her face turned a deeper shade of red.

"You know, _Mikan_ , the weather's looking pretty good today."

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" She slapped her hands over her heated cheeks.

"So, _Mikan,_ what do you think of attending Hope's Peak with me?"

"If I say I'm going to be the SHSL Mechanic, will you stop doing that?!" Mikan shrieked.

"Nope," Fuyuhiko said with a sly smirk. "You're just going to have to live with it, _Mikan_."

"Sometimes you're a jerk," Mikan huffed, turning her stare back to her work. She was pouting as she snapped the pieces together.

"Quit stating the obvious, _Mikan,_ " Fuyuhiko retorted, and Mikan screamed.

(A few days later, Fuyuhiko, Mikan, and Peko received their acceptance letters. Fuyuhiko wouldn't stop laughing about how he was right.)

* * *

A week before the school year started, Mikan asked him if he still had that alarm clock she made.

"Yeah, why?" Fuyuhiko said. "Want it back or something?"

"No, I just finished the calender and I need to upgrade it," Mikan answered, holding up her completed project. "With this, it'll account for holidays and weekends and say ' _happy birthday_ ' on your birthday."

"Aw, how sweet," Fuyuhiko grinned jokingly, and Mikan fumbled, almost dropping her clock part. "You actually remembered my birthday."

"I-it's not anything special!" Mikan stammered. "Most phones h-have a function like that!"

"But still, it's amazing how you can do something like that on a manual alarm clock," Fuyuhiko stated, giving her the oh-so-familiar ' _if you say something self-depreciating I will fight you'_ look. "You're incredible, Mikan."

"Kuzuryuu-san, stop making fun of me!" Mikan exclaimed, her face bright pink.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss _'Best Mechanic the World has Ever Seen'_ , was I downplaying your accomplishments too much? Should I be honest and say that you're incredibly wonderful and fantastic and all sorts of shit like that?" Fuyuhiko asked with a grin, and Mikan slapped her hands over her burning cheeks.

"Stooooooooooooop."

"Not until you say it."

"Fine!" Mikan huffed. "I'm amazing and incredible and everything else you said!"

"And?"

"And I've accomplished a lot of cool things!"

"Even when your age was in the single-digits," Fuyuhiko added, before beaming at Mikan with pride in his eyes. "You're the SHSL Mechanic for a reason, so don't put yourself down, got it?"

"It's just..." Mikan sighed, her shoulders slumping as she frowned. "The school's for the best of the best of _the best_! How am _I_ supposed to be attending there wi-with _you_ , and Pekoyama-san, a-and Nanami..."

"I mean, I'm assuming you know how to go to school-" Fuyuhiko quipped, before Mikan let out a loud "Kuzuryuu!"

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes, before using his best ' _storyteller_ ' voice.

"Once upon a time, there was this really talented girl. She was recognized for her talent, and accepted into one of the best schools in the world. The pressure was weighing down on her," Fuyuhiko switched to a poor iimitation of Mikan's high-pitched voice. "' _Am I really good enough for this?' 'How can I be expected to live up to these expectations?'"_

 _"_ But then she actually got there," Fuyuhiko narrated with a grin. "And she saw that it wasn't as big and scary as she thought. She made friends and learned and everything else that happened at school. And you lived happily ever after."

Mikan hesitated, before quietly saying, "You switched to ' _you_ ' in the last part. You broke your fourth wall."

"Well, I was talking about you the entire time, so it doesn't count."

Mikan laughed, before giving him a small smile.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Mikan."

"W-well, anyways!" Mikan said quickly. "The alarm clock! T-t-that's what we were talking about!"

"Yeah, just hold on a minute," Fuyuhiko pushed himself up, patting the familiar tree as he stood.

He left for his room, carefully checking the premises before stepping inside. Fuyuhiko stepped towards his closet, slowly pulling it open...

...and let out a sigh of relief when Nanami wasn't inside. He went for a pile of clothes in the corner, uncovering the locked box like unearthing a treasure at the end of a scavenger hunt.

Fuyuhiko took great care to leave the room exactly as it was before. The pile of clothes was arranged to look like the result of simple laziness, and no corner of the box peeked out from its hiding spot. The only difference was that he had an alarm clock in his hand when he returned.

"Here you go," Fuyuhiko said casually, passing the clock to Mikan as he sat back down.

"Huh, that's weird..." Mikan mumbled, staring at the clock face with a confused look. "It's five hours late. Did you mess with the time?"

"Uh- No!" Fuyuhiko exclaimed. He scrambled for an explanation, coming up with, "I just, er, brought it with me for a trip. Different timezones. Yeah."

"Hmm, okay," Mikan nodded, pulling a ribbon and a screwdiver from her pocket. She held the ribbon out to him, staring at him pleadingly. "Please?"

Fuyuhiko grabbed the ribbon and moved behind her without another word. Experienced hands swept bangs out of her face and tied her hair into a long ponytail. He gave the knot bunny-ears, because it was cute and it suited Mikan.

"You're the best," Mikan smiled, turning to her work.

"Goddamn, you're making me blush over here," Fuyuhiko said, because he was a dummy who could dish out compliments to friends like punches to enemies but he couldn't fucking take one in return.

"Revenge," Mikan smirked. "I finally found your weak point! I can avenge my own death by praise!"

"Not if I kill you with compliments again before you can do anything!" Fuyuhiko shot back with a grin.

"Noooo! I have to repay you _somehow_!" Mikan laughed.

"Just accept your fate already! You're going to be in the ground, and the cause of death will be your inability to accept a compliment!'

"Fuyuhiko, no! I don't wanna die!"

Fuyuhiko froze, staring at Mikan with wide eyes. She noticed, her laughter dying away and her smile falling.

"Uh, did I say something wrong?"

"That was the first time you ever used my first name," Fuyuhiko said, and Mikan flinched.

"U-um, t-t-t-that's, er-! I'm sorry, I-!"

"Do it again."

Mikan paused, before shaking her head quickly, her cheeks bright pink.

"No! I-I-I c-can't!"

"How come?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"I-It's j-j-just, uh, e-er, I-"

"-can't think about it without stuttering uncontrollably," Fuyuhiko offered.

"N-no! It's just, i-it's just-just-" Mikan stammered, proving Fuyuhiko's point.

"Well, it's fine," Fuyuhiko shrugged. "I'm not going to make you do it or anything."

Mikan's face was pink as she quietly thanked him.

* * *

The day before they left for Hope's Peak was a quiet one, surprisingly enough. Mikan and Fuyuhiko sat together under their tree, silently watching the grass grow and the clouds pass by. Mikan wasn't tinkering with anything.

"Hey," Fuyuhiko broke the silence. "You said that Nanami was heading to Hope's Peak too, but... what _is_ Nanami's talent, actually?"

"The Super High School Level Traditional Dancer," Mikan answered, and Fuyuhiko gave her a weird look. "What? She's really good, and her dances are beautiful and-"

"Really?"

"-and it's a coverup for her being the SHSL Assassin," Mikan confessed, bowing her head in shame.

"Oh," Fuyuhiko said. "Can't be easy, going around with a talent like that."

"It's just so she can protect me..." Mikan trailed off, frowning. "But having a bodyguard is... a bit much."

"Having a friend and a sister and a nanny, all in one," Fuyuhiko supplemented, and Mikan nodded. He sighed. "And you keep wondering what their life would be like if you didn't get involved and they could live a normal childhood..."

"Kuzuryuu-san?" Mikan stared at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Fuyuhiko smiled reassuringly at her.

"Really?"

Fuyuhiko nodded. "Besides, Peko'll get to live a normal life soon. I told her to live a normal school life while we were there."

"How sweet of you," Mikan grinned.

Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes, and the two settled into a nice, comfortable silence.

At least, until Mikan spoke up.

"I want to get stronger."

"Huh?"

"I want to be able to make friends and talk to people, without my family, or my bodyguard, or..." Mikan hesitated, before forcing herself to say it. "Or you. I have to be able to do that by myself, or I'll keep being the weakling who delends on others to live..."

"So. You want me, your friend, to not talk to you, because you want to make new friends," Fuyuhiko reiterated flatly. "Because you think you're weak, which, by the way, isn't fucking true."

"Wha- no!" Mikan exclaimed hurriedly. "I mean, you can't try to protect me, o-or get Pekoyama to do it, or do it anonymously, or bribe someone else to do it! I won't grow stronger if I'm always being protected by everyone! And I don't want to be a damsel in distress!"

Fuyuhiko let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"That's much better. And actually doable."

"What?" Mikan stared at him in confusion, forcing him to clarify.

"Well, I mean..." Fuyuhiko trailed off, turning a bit pink as he said, "I like you, so it's not like I _want_ to suddenly stop spending time with you."

"H-hwuh? You, uh, you actually _like_ m-me?" Mikan asked in shock, and Fuyuhiko gave her the most incredulous look he could manage.

" _We have been friends for more than half our lives_ ," Fuyuhiko said in exasperation.

"That's not what I meant!" Mikan snapped.

"Then what did you mean?! ' _Hey, longtime friend, do you enjoy my existence?!'_ or ' _I thought we were acquaintances for years but you think we're more than that?!'_ "

"None of the above!" Mikan declared frantically. "I-I mean, I l-l-like you, but, uh, you, er-!" She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. "No, no, just forget I said anything! Please just forget!"

"Do I have to develop psychic powers or something to get inside your head?!" Fuyuhiko demanded.

"No! It's something you aren't meant to know!" Mikan slapped her hands over her ears, like she was defending herself from mental probes. "Please, just _stop asking_! I'm **never** going to tell you!"

Fuyuhiko froze, his eyes widening.

"Seriously... you'd think that after so long, you could at least trust me with something like that..." Fuyuhiko grumbled, and Mikan's heart fell.

"I trust you, I really do," Mikan stated. "You're my best friend, and I... I love you a lot," Mikan smiled sadly, before saying, "But it's not really important."

"If it's important to you, it's important to me."

"It's not important to me," Mikan lied. "So please don't worry about me."

"Are you sure?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure," Mikan answered.

"Hmph, fine then," Fuyuhiko huffed. "Do whatever you want."

"Thank you so much," Mikan smiled.

* * *

"I'm the famous Souda Kazuichi!" The pink-haired musician pushed his chest out with pride. "You might have heard of me from my countless albums and tours! Pleased to meet you, fans!"

Fuyuhiko didn't care.

"I am the Super High School Level Chef, Sonia Nevermind. I hope to become friends with all of you."

"Food?!" The brown-haired animal trainer drooled over the possibility. "Oh man, I'm gonna like you!"

Fuyuhiko just wanted the stupid thing to be over and done with already.

"Hanamura Teruteru, man of wealth, class, and taste. If anyone wants to be my photography model, feel free... provided that you're in the nude, of course."

"Ugh, _gross!_ " The twin-tailed gamer shrieked. "You're disgusting!"

"Hey, hey, the high spirits are appreciated, but the rude words are not! Ibuki thinks we should all settle down!" The coach exclaimed, her voice grating at Fuyuhiko's nerves.

Fuyuhiko wanted to go to sleep.

"My name is Nanami Chiaki," The brunette stated in a blank tone. She brought her hands together, and when she pulled her hand away from her kimono's sleeve, there was a sharp knife in her hand. "I'm the SHSL Assassin."

Someone was screaming (Probably the musician), Peko was going for her sword, and Fuyuhiko just wanted everyone to shut up.

"T-that's a joke, right?! _Right_?!" Mikan screamed.

"Yeah, of course," Nanami brought her hands together again, and replaced her knife with a folding fan. "I'm actually the SHSL Traditional Dancer. Nice to meet you."

Their first day at school started without a teacher and ended with everyone going to their dorms for the first time, long before the school day was supposed to end. The teachers either didn't exist or didn't care if they went to class or not.

Fuyuhiko was just in the middle of unpacking his stuff when a knock came on his door.

"The fuck do you wa- oh, hey Mikan," Fuyuhiko said as he answered the door. "Need something?"

Mikan nodded, and Fuyuhiko let her inside.

"I need a knife," Mikan stated.

"Who do you need dead?" Fuyuhiko asked. "Because if it's Souda-"

"No!" Mikan exclaimed, and Fuyuhiko deflated, a bit disappointed. "I don't want to kill anyone!"

"Then what do you need a knife for?"

Mikan grabbed her hair in a fist, dragging a finger across the length of the bunch. Fuyuhiko ' _ohh_ 'ed.

He went over to his top drawer, pulling it open and digging around inside. A pair of toy cars were carefully placed on top of the drawer, then notebooks were tossed away without a second thought. Mikan watched with curious eyes as he pulled out a switchblade, passing it to her.

"Thank you," Mikan smiled, before raising the blade to her hair. She paused, her eyes drifting towards Fuyuhiko's face. He shot her a reassuring grin, and Mikan sliced her long hair off.

It felt so weird, having her head be so light. She was so used to her hair weighing her down...

...and she chopped it off. The long, beautiful hair that was so vital to the image of a ' _perfect beauty_ ' her parents wanted her to have. She... she _defied_ her parents' orders on a _whim_ , a selfish desire like that, and... she didn't regret it at all.

Mikan dropped the fistful of hair into Fuyuhiko's trash bin, before returning the knife to him.

"You're beautiful," Fuyuhiko said, and Mikan blushed.

"You-you're complimentung me too much," Mikan huffed, looking away from his face.

"Or maybe I'm not complimenting you enough," Fuyuhiko retorted with a grin.

"Too much," Mikan stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed.

He had the kind of laugh that could make the sun come out on rainy days. Mikan loved hearing that joyful sound. Fuyuhiko could charm anyone with that laugh, make people's hearts flip and twist in their chests. Or maybe that was just Mikan.

Mikan tensed a bit, trying to steer her mind away from that line of thought. She couldn't be in love with Fuyuhiko. She had to marry into a powerful family, because that was what her family needed. That was what her parents raised her for.

Her parents wanted her to do that more than anything. More than playing with metal scraps and making toys. More than making friends and getting stronger.

( _they cared more about her marriage prospects than her and she knew it_

 _she_ _was a doll made to be admired for her beauty and given in exchange for money and power, always silent, always polite, always playing the part of the perfect beauty_

 _it was so, so rare to find someone who actually wanted her to be happy and okay and safe that she couldn't recognize it when she got it_ )

"Hey, Fuyuhiko?" Mikan spoke up, right before Fuyuhiko say anything about praising her any more. "Thank you for caring about me."

"What are friends for?" Fuyuhiko smiled.

Right. Friends.

" _Best_ friends," Mikan corrected, and Fuyuhiko nodded approvingly.

He had his part to play, and she had hers. Mikan couldn't let her feelings get in the way of that.

So she smiled and told herself that she was okay with being friends, just friends, and hoped that she could believe herself one day.

* * *

_'It's a beautiful day, Kuzuryuu-san, and I know you'll do great_!' The voice of an eight-year-old Mikan blared from his alarm clock, waking Fuyuhiko up from a dreamless sleep.

Oh. Right. School was a thing.

Except... did they even have to _go_ to class? After all, there weren't any teachers the first day, and no one seemed to care if they left early...

Eh. He decided to throw on his clothes and see if there was anything going on. If there wasn't, he was going back to sleep.

He stepped inside the classroom to find...

"What the goddamn fuck is going on in here," Fuyuhiko said flatly.

"I've been trying to create a chocolate statue that suits Hanamura-san's needs!" The chef declared as she continued making her... uh. _Interesting_ creation. That was modeled after Nidai. And nude.

Hanamura drooled, his camera going off every five seconds.

A thankfully clothed Nidai nodded along from the sidelines, before saying, "The pelvic bone should be move evident."

"Alright!" Nevermind pumped a fist into the air, and Fuyuhiko decided that it was time to leave.

Just to make sure, he took one of his notebooks and tore out a page. He hastily wrote a message on it, sticking it to the door, then walked off.

 _'Don't go in. Trust me, you_ **really** _don't want to.'_

Fuyuhiko groaned as he walked off, wanting to rip his head out and forcibly remove that memory. Please.

He decided to take a walk outside, figuring that some time with nature would help him. His feet took him towards the forest around the school, and he slowed down, appreciating the sight. As expected of such a prestigious school, the grass was a vivid green and precisely trimmed. The trees seemed to exude a sense of peace and calm. Or maybe that was just Fuyuhiko recovering from the traumatic sight.

Fuyuhiko decided, _'why the fuck not?'_ , and began scaling up the tree. He didn't stop until he was so high up, people on the ground seemed like tiny LEGO pieces. It was nice, sitting there quietly, watching the wind rustle leaves and the clouds go by, but...

Something was missing. Or, well. some _one_.

He could almost see her sitting on the branch next to him, her back pressed against the trunk of the tree. But then again, they _were_ pretty high up, and she might have to cling to his arm to feel safe... or maybe she would insist on being strong by herself, hanging onto the tree with nothing but her strength and determination. But it didn't really matter what she was doing. It just wouldn't be right to not have her there.

Maybe he was too attached. Mikan _did_ say she wanted to make new friends, and he couldn't stop her from doing that. Fuyuhiko just had to find someone else then. Maybe someone in the class wasn't as bad as they seemed. Yeah, there had to be _someone_ in the class who was tolerable aside from Mikan and Peko. Fuyuhiko could use the chance to make new friends too.

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. He could hear bits and pieces of a conversation, but not much. The leaves blocked his view, but he knew those voices well enough to know who they were.

"You know, you're very admirable," Nanami declared. "I've looked up to you and your skills for a long time."

"Thank you," Peko grinned in return.

" _However..._ " Nanami said slowly, her hand on her blade's handle. "If your charge isn't careful with her... I'll kill him. And there's nothing you could do about it."

"Try me," Peko challenged, her hand creeping towards her sword.

"Eh," Nanami shrugged, both her hands coming out of her kimono's sleeves. They were empty. "It's a hypothetical scenario, plus, it's unprofessional to get riled up by something so small."

"You issued a death threat against my brother," Peko growled.

"No, I _promised_ , that if, and _only_ if, an _entirely_ unlikely scenario were to happen, then he would wind up dead," Nanami argued with a sly smile. "There's a huge difference, Pekoyama-san."

Peko was silent, and Fuyuhiko heard them walk away.

Huh. What was that about?

* * *

Nanami Chiaki was not an idiot. She knew how the story would end. No matter what happened, that ending wouldn't change.

Tsumiki's parents were stubborn, yes, but even they could change their minds. They would eventually see that resistance was futile and agree to the Kuzuryuu family's proposal. But even if they didn't, Tsumiki would still love Kuzuryuu and he would love her in return. If they got impatient, they would just elope. Or the Kuzuryuu family would just kidnap her so they could get married. Whichever one.

Yep, she was absolutely, one hundred percent, unwaveringly certain that they would wind up together sooner or later. Nothing could convince her otherwise. If you told her it wasn't going to happen, she would kick you. There was absolutely no changing her mind once it was set, and it was set on her Young Mistress and the Kuzuryuu kid ending up together.

Due to her unchanging faith in that future, Nanami knew it was less a question of _'if'_ and more a question _'when'_ the inevitable would happen. There were downsides to this. Because Nanami knew it was less _'if'_ and more _'when'_ , her question became ' _when will those dummies_ **finally** _get together?'_

She became impatient. And when Nanami grew impatient, she got bored, and when that happened... well...

Then she tried to take matters into her own hands, no matter how much Tsumiki's parents didn't want Kuzuryuu around their daughter. Nanami didn't care about their orders. She knew that what she was doing was right, and that her actions would lead to the two of them being happy with each other.

Yup, there was no reason to feel guilty at all~!

"You know, I heard that Kuzuryuu-kun has a collection of _'precious gifts'_ from girls in his room," Nanami whispered conspiratorially. "And I even saw Tsumiki heading over there a few days ago!"

Souda gave her a wide-eyed stare.

"W-what sort of precious gifts?" He asked.

"What else could a girl possibly give a guy like that?" Hanamura said in a lewd tone. "He probably treats them like trophies, and makes sure to remember them dearly on lonely nights."

"No, no, he probably just invites them over again!" Chiaki proclaimed, before Souda spotted something behind her.

Chiaki glanced over her shoulder. A grin made its way onto her face when she saw Tsumiki and Pekoyama walking in together.

"It's Tsumiki..." Souda muttered. "Should we ask her about it?"

"I'll go talk to her," Chiaki declared, spinning around. She switched to a bored expression as easily as donning another mask, her voice blank and emotionless when she spoke. "Tsumiki. May I speak to you?" Her eyes shifted towards Pekoyama, "Alone?"

Tsumiki nodded, and Pekoyama excused herself. Chiaki waited until the swordswoman was out of earshot before speaking.

"I was talking to Hanamura-kun and Souda-kun just now... apparently there's a girl who visited Kuzuryuu-kun's room and stayed there for a really long time."

Tsumiki's eyes widened, her mouth falling open slightly.

"R-really?"

"Yes," Chiaki nodded. ' _In fact, I'm looking at her.'_

Chiaki didn't say that, instead watching Tsumiki's reaction carefully.

"I guess... If he got a girlfriend, I would be fine with that," Tsumiki said weakly.

"Really?"

"I'm his friend, so I should support him in finding love, right?" Tsumiki let out an awkward laugh, forcing a grin on her face.

"If you say so," Chiaki shrugged, before deciding to give Tsumiki a bit of a push. "But... if you're not going to do anything about it, you shouldn't complain if you're stuck with an outcome you don't want."

Tsumiki hesitated, and Chiaki turned back to her pair of gossiping friends.

"Well?" Hanamura asked excitedly. "What did she say?"

"She did head to his room," Chiaki stated truthfully. "She did give him her ' _precious gifts_ '," Still true, "And he was her first," First _friend_ , so technically true.

Souda gasped in shock, and the trio cheerfully spent the next few minutes chatting about their classmates' love lives.

* * *

Mikan wasn't nervous. She was just v-visiting a friend! There was absolutely no reason for her to be nervous!

Except the part where she was... you know... kind of trying to... completely-ruin-their-relationship-and-make-everything-awkward-and-also-destroy-everything-for-a-completely-pointless-reason-because-on-the-small-tiny-microscopic-chance-that-he-liked-her-back-her-parents-would-never-let-them-date-

Mikan slapped her hands to her cheeks, trying to bring herself out of that line of thought. Good, positive thinking. She could do it. She was calm and completely capable of confessing and continuing to be friends afterwards.

She raised her hand to the door, knocking. There was a small pause, before Fuyuhiko opened the door. He didn't look all that shocked to see her.

"Coming in?" Fuyuhiko asked, automatically welcoming her inside. Mikan sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep her head high as she stepped forward.

"I...I wanted to do something," Mikan declared. "With you."

"Time to go on an adventure?" Fuyuhiko asked with a grin. Mikan almost felt bad when she shook her head.

"Er, um, K..." She bit at the inside of her cheek, blushing as she corrected herself. "Fuyuhiko, um..."

Fuyuhiko's eyes widened, colour coming to his cheeks.

"H-have you ever though o-of dating someone?!" Mikan exclaimed. "Like, someone in our class o-or something!"

"No," Fuyuhiko answered without any hesitation. Mikan almost got dejected, almost shied away right then and there, but then-

"Why would I, when I would have to break up with them?"

"Huh? Why would you have to break up with them?"

Fuyuhiko gave her a weird look, saying, "I can't be dating someone and married to someone else at the same time."

"That doesn't explain anything," Mikan replied.

"I mean, I'm going to marry _you_ , so I can't really date anyone else," Fuyuhiko explained, and Mikan froze. Her mouth fell open in a gape, and a low _'uhhhh...'_ left her mouth.

"What's with your reaction?" Fuyuhiko sighed exasperatedly. "Do you not want to marry me or something?"

"H-h-h-h-h-hold on!" Mikan screamed. "Y-you, m-marry _me_?! S-s-since when?!"

"Since we were kids?" Fuyuhiko offered. "I mean, that's why we met, right? Because our parents wanted us to meet our future spouse?"

"But, Fuyuhiko! My parents cancelled that arrangement!"

"You act like that means anything," Fuyuhiko huffed.

"H-h-hwuh...? T-that, what, I-huh?" Mikan stammered, completely unable to process the situation. Her face was so hot, she could smell smoke. The gears in her head were spinning out of control trying to process the situation, until something snapped.

_Mikan's HP ran out..._

_Mikan fainted. Would you like to use a Revive?_

"Mikan! Mikan, fuck, what happened?! Are you okay?! Wake up! **_MIKAN!_** "

* * *

Thankfully, Nidai was around. The brawny nurse brought Mikan to the infirmary, checking her vitals. Her heart was beating at a normal pace and she was breathing fine. She would wake up soon.

Fuyuhiko was grateful, kinda. But he was never grateful than the moment when Nidai decided that he could just leave Fuyuhiko alone with Mikan. As nice as the nurse was, Fuyuhiko still couldn't get the traumatic image out of his head.

He let out a groan as Mikan snored. In the empty infirmary, the few sounds seemed much louder than they really were. Fuyuhiko could hear Mikan shifting on the cot, mumbling in her sleep. After a small pause, he stepped towards the bed, sitting by her feet.

"Seriously, I can't believe you sometimes..." Fuyuhiko grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I say a simple fact, and you fucking faint on me," He groaned, his expression becoming more annoyed to cover up his concern. "You better not be sick."

Mikan blabbered something incomprehensible, which was enough of a response for Fuyuhiko to imagine that they were having a conversation... instead of, you know, him being the sort of idiot who talked to a sleeping person.

"You better not react like that _every_ single damn time," Fuyuhiko huffed. "It would be a pain to deal with."

Mikan didn't answered verbally, just smiling peacefully. Fuyuhiko sighed, his eyes softening as he reached out. He hesitated, his hand hovering over her shoulder before...

Fuyuhiko moved his hand down, grabbing her hand. Mikan automatically intertwined her fingers with his, and Fuyuhiko grinned.

"You're an idiot, sometimes," Fuyuhiko said. His voice held no anger or annoyance, just fondness and warmth. "But you're worth all the trouble."

He glanced over at her sleeping face, before freezing.

Because... she wasn't sleeping.

"Kuzuryuu...?" Mikan stared at him with curious eyes, and Fuyuhiko snatched his hand away.

"This is all part of your imagination!" Fuyuhiko declared quickly, his face bright red. "Go back to sleep!"

"Oh... so this is a dream," Mikan said, and Fuyuhiko nodded. A sleepy smile stretched across her lips, and she let out a content sigh. "This needs to happen more often..."

"You fainting and scaring the crap out of me?" Fuyuhiko narrowed his eyes at Mikan.

"Of course not, silly!" Mikan laughed. "I mean, me waking up to see your face!" Her eyes softened, and she squeezed his hand. "I wouldn't mind waking up like this every day for the rest of my life..."

"Uh," Fuyuhiko replied eloquently.

"Hey, Fuyuhiko," Mikan called out, staring at him pleadingly. "If this is a dream... can you kiss me?"

"T-this isn't a dream!" Fuyuhiko exclaimed immediately. "If you kiss me, you're kissing me for real!"

"I always wanted to do that," Mikan said with a grin.

"Ugh, fine... since you asked and all," Fuyuhiko huffed.

"Huh? You don't want to?" Mikan asked, her smile falling away.

"That's not what I said!" Fuyuhiko snapped, before shying away a bit. "I mean, it's not like I'd pass up this chance or something..."

Mikan beamed at him, before pushing herself up into a sitting position. She placed a hand on Fuyuhiko's face, slowly leaning in...

And because Fuyuhiko was an impatient little bastard, he closed the distance in a second, pressing their lips together.

When they separated, Mikan's eyes widened, gaining the clarity she lacked since she woke up. And then-

"H-h-h-h-h-hwuah?!" Mikan screamed, covering her gaping mouth with one hand. "I-I, you, k-k-kiss-! Uh!"

" _You're_ the one who fucking asked!" Fuyuhiko retorted.

"B-but, um, no, I'm supposed to, no, this is- my parents _hate_ you, and they'll never-"

"What about you?" Fuyuhiko asked, slicing through Mikan's babbling in an instant.

"Huh?"

"I don't care what your parents think," Fuyuhiko stated. "I want to know what _you_ think."

"I... I..." Mikan hesitated, before quietly saying, "I love you."

"So what does it matter what your parents think?" Fuyuhiko grinned. "Fuck them. You love me and I love you, so that's that, right?"

"W-wait, you love me?" Mikan's eyes widened with shock.

"Duh," Fuyuhiko said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it kind of was.

"Ah... ahahahahahahahahahaha!" Mikan grinned, throwing her arms around his shoulders. She laughed like she was the happiest girl in the world, and hey, maybe she was. Mikan didn't really know.

All she knew was that she never wanted to let go.

* * *

"I am so sorry," Her father's gravelly voice said over the phone. "We tried to argue against it-"

"-day and night, years and years," Her mother added.

"But we couldn't refuse," Her father said solemnly. "You have to marry that," His lip curled up in a disgusted sneer, "Ill-mannered, rude, disrespectful _child_."

"It's for the sake of our family," Her mother stated. "I wish we didn't have to do this, but... we can't change the way things are."

"I understand, mother, father," Mikan nodded, though her parents couldn't see it over the phone. "I will marry him."

"Thank you for understanding," Her mother smiled, and Mikan hung up. She let out a huge sigh, releasing all the tension in her body. Her head slumped back against her pillow, her arm falling down against the bed.

"What did they say?" Fuyuhiko asked, resting his head on her stomach. Mikan's other hand came up to loop around his shoulders, a content smile on her face.

"It's an arranged marriage," Mikan declared. "Between you and me."

"Good," Fuyuhiko grinned.

Mikan couldn't help but smile, before she remembered something.

"Did you ever get to hear that message?"

"What message?"

"The one I added to your alarm clock," Mikan answered. "Before the school year."

"The one that was supposed to play on my birthday?"

"No, I added another-" Mikan froze, before her hand darted towards Fuyuhiko's bedside table. She grabbed his alarm clock, hastily beginning to pry the back off. It took her a few seconds to remember that tools were much more effective than her nails, and she had the right tool in her pants pocket.

"What are you doing?" Fuyuhiko asked, turning over to stare at his girlfriend while she was panicking and dismantling his alarm clock.

"Getting rid of it," Mikan declared.

"You can't just break my fucking alarm clock!" Fuyuhiko snapped, trying to snatch it from her hands.

"I'm not breaking it!" Mikan exclaimed, holding the clock out of his reach. "I'm just taking out the love confession clip and smashing it! Everything else will be fine!"

"Love confession clip?" Fuyuhiko echoed, and Mikan let out a soft _'crap'._

"N-n-n-no, it's nothing, I s-swear," Mikan mumbled.

"I want to hear it," Fuyuhiko stated.

" _Why?!_ " Mikan shrieked, her face bright red. She cradled the clock to her chest protectively, even though she was still unscrewing the back. "I-it's just, it's _embarrassing_ , and-and, oh, just trust me, you _don't_ want to, and-"

"Okay, _fine_ , if you insist," Fuyuhiko huffed, not at all pouting. That cute look continued eroding at Mikan's HP, until she hung her head and poked at the inside of the clock.

_'I... um, I-I, no, that's not it, er, where are my notes- gah! Is this recording?! No!'_

"That wasn't it!" Mikan screamed, poking at another part. Fuyuhiko snickered at her mistake, because he was a jerk.

_'Okay, so, once upon a time... there was... a-prince-and-he-was-amazing-and-his-best-friend-sort-of-kind-of-fell-in-love-with-him-and-'_

"No! Not the right one! Argh!" Mikan hurriedly stabbed at another recording, hoping that she found the right one-

_'Dammit, why is this so hard?! I just want to say how I've been in love with you, and I just want to make you smile and laugh and I want to repay you for every time you've made me happy and- wait, is this recording?! Fu-!'_

"Holy shit," Fuyuhiko grinned, not even trying to hide his laughter. "You're adorable."

"No, I'm not," Mikan grumbled, almost ready to crush the clock with her bare hands.

"Cutest girlfriend in the world," Fuyuhiko declared, and Mikan almost screamed.

**Author's Note:**

> I like to imagine that the Kuzumom is nicer to her kids here because her backstory didn't happen, which is one half of why Fuyuhiko's so nice here. The other half is because he's been friends with Mikan since childhood.
> 
> And Natsumi and Peko are less present because what sort of sisters would willingly become the third wheel to a lovey-dovey couple. Especially if one half of that couple was their brother. Even if Natsumi wanted to snoop, Peko wouldn't let her.
> 
> Chiaki is more manipulative because she's been kidnapped and forced to learn how to kill to protect someone she barely knows so... whatever you need to do to survive, right?
> 
> Anyways, I hope all of you had fun reading this and that you all have a great day!!!!!


End file.
